Weaker British Pound and Russian Ruble

The dollar advanced 0.8% against sterling on a disappointing U.K. industrial output report.

The dollar is 0.7% stronger against the ruble on a further 0.4% slide in oil prices. WTI crude petroleum fell another 0.4% to $31.29 per barrel.

The dollar is just 0.1% firmer against the yen, showing little reaction to a slew of Japanese data releases.

The dollar also has firmed 0.1% against the Australian dollar, Chinese yuan, and euro. The greenback rose 0.2% vis-a-vis the kiwi but slid 0.2% against the loonie.

European and Asian share prices moved largely in opposite directions. In the Pacific Rim, stocks closed down 2.7% in Japan, 1.0% in Hong Kong, 0.6% in India and Singapore, 0.3% in Taiwan, 0.2% in South Korea and 0.1% in Australia. The Shanghai Composite index recovered 0.2%, and equities in Europe are higher by 2.2% in Germany, 2.1% in France, 1.8% in Greece, 1.7% in Switzerland, 1.5% in the U.K., 1.3% in Italy and 1.1% in Spain.

Comex gold fell 0.2% to $1,091.80 per troy ounce.

Among 10-year sovereign debt yields, the JGB is unchanged by very low at 0.21%. The British gilt and German bund yields have edged up two and one basis points.

U.S. President Obama delivers his final state of the union address tonight, which is rumored to lack the usual litany of recommended legislative goals and instead dwell on broad themes to be pursued beyond his presidential term.

Japan’s seasonally adjusted JPY 1.424 trillion current account surplus in November was 4.7% smaller than in October and lower than forecast. The unadjusted current account surplus of JPY 1.144 billion was 2.6 times larger than the surplus in November 2014. Exports and imports recorded on-year declines of 6.3% and 10.9% in November. The Basic Balance — a compilation of the current account, net portfolio investment, and net direct investment — showed a JPY 4.17 trillion surplus.

Bank lending in Japan remained subdued throughout 2015. Such posted a 2.2% on-year increase in the final month of last year, a tad less than the 2.3% fourth-quarter pace of growth and even further below the third-quarter’s 2.6% pace.

Japan’s seasonally adjusted settlements basis merchandise trade balance swung to a surplus of 103 billion yen in November from deficits of JPY 49 billion in October and JPY 272 billion in September.

Japan’s customs clearance trade deficit during the first twenty days of December equaled 381 billion yen, 52.7% less than a year earlier on a 16.7% plunge in imports. Exports were 3.1% lower than a year earlier.

Japan’s economy watchers index improved 2.6 points to a 4-month high of 48.7 in December but was below the 50 threshold for a fifth straight time.

Japan ended 2015 with its strongest consumer sentiment of the year. Confidence edged up 0.1 point to a reading of 42.7 in December. That’s still below a score of 45.2 registered in the final month of 2014.

British industrial production, which analysts projected to be flat in November, instead fell by 0.7%, halving the 12-month rate of increase to just 0.9%. Factory output fell 0.4% in November and by 1.2% on year.

Statistical institutes in Euroland’s three largest economies project 1.5% eurozone GDP growth in 2015 and quarterly gains of 0.4% during the first half of 2016.

Czech third-quarter GDP growth was revised upward to show a quarterly advance of 0.7% and year-on-year growth of 4.7%. Czech retail sales slipped 0.4% on month in November but posted a 5.6% gain from a year earlier. Czech CPI inflation held steady at 0.1% last month. Consumer prices in Cyprus fell 0.6% from end-2014 to end-2015.

French manufacturing sentiment according to the Bank of France ticked up a point to 99 last month, matching October’s level. Sentiment in construction and services sectors each remained steady in December. Monetary authorities expect GDP to record growth of 0.3% in the final quarter of 2015.

The National Bank of Serbia’s policy interest rate was left at 4.5% after this month’s Executive Board meeting. The decision matched that made in November, but the rate previously was cut by 350 basis points between March and October of last year.

Scheduled U.S. data releases today are the JOLTS index, the IBD/TIPP optimism index and weekly redbook chain store sales. The NFIB index of U.S. small business confidence rebounded 0.4 points to a 2-month high of 95.2 in December but was still 5.2 points lower than its end-2014 level.

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